“The Beginning…
We said our sweet goodbyes to our family in Washington and embarked on a long journey that would take us across three states and multiple layovers of ranges of 3-6 hours each. After 20 hours of travel, we arrived in Panama, feeling exhausted and jetlagged but had no time to enjoy this country. It was just a short change of plane to our destination – Bolivia.
Arriving in Bolivia
Our next flight was to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and we were excited to finally reach our destination. However, our excitement was short-lived when we realized that our luggage had decided to stay in Panama and take a leisurely three-day vacation without us. We were left with only one outfit. We were fortunate to have a washing machine where we were staying, which we used daily for the next three days.
We were able to visit the Botanico Gardens in Santa Cruz on Sabbath. This was a nice day to relax and enjoy the new environment of Bolivia.
When our luggage finally arrived, we were relieved to have our own clothes and personal items back. But our relief was short-lived once again when we reached La Paz, the highest airport in the world. We felt altitude sickness and suffered from nausea and headaches, but
Despite feeling unwell, we wanted to explore the city and try out the local cuisine. Our niece had suggested a restaurant called the Carrot Tree, which had tasty food and great wifi. After our meal, we struggled to stay awake and decided to call it a night. On the way back to our Airbnb, we stumbled upon a little grocery store where we purchased a few supplies and found a vendor outside who sold us a Bolivian SIM card.
We were still feeling tired and jetlagged, and our attempt to activate the Entel SIM card with all Spanish text prompts proved to be frustrating. After trying for a while, we eventually gave up and headed for bed. Rick was already trying to sleep, but the bed was too hard for him, so he moved to the couch bed. Both of us had a tough night with all of the above.
The following day, we woke up feeling tired and headed back towards the airport in La Paz to catch a flight to Rurrenabaque. We were blessed to find another SIM kiosk with a kind soul who was willing to help us with the SIM card installation. Watching her select from bar codes and input my DOB and other ID info, I realized there was no way we would have been able to do this ourselves.
With a SIM card working in my phone, we boarded the plane for a small hop and skip to Rurrenabaque.
